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Hi to everyone on the Parkinson's group. I am so happy to find you. I was going to just 'lurk', but wrote to a 'welcoming' member to ask her opinion and decided not to. I was stricken with one of the 'relapsing' forms of Guillain Barre Syndrome (a sudden and severe paralyzing neurologic disorder, from which we do recover to varying degrees) in 1992, and was left with some considerable limitations - autonomic, motor and sensory. Two years later, I accepted the fact I would never be able to go back to work as a college professor - Oceanography and Microbiology primarily. The GBS listserv has been great, both psychologicall and because most of any real knowledge I have of my own disease is from there. When I was able to (three months ago), I left my long time home on Long Island, my grown children, my grandchildren, and everyone I knew to move to SW Florida, where I could get around better and live in a one story house with garage door opener, wheel chair accessible floor plan (I am not currently in one, but lets plan ahead!) I don't even have to fight to get jackets and coats on now. I became active in a local chapter of a 12 step recovery group of which I had been a member for 18 years, jand the totally unimaginable happed to me - I met this really great and adorable fellow - even longer sobriety than my own, great sense of humour, intelligent, even good looking, and very clearly not doing much better physically than I was - but in different ways. I realized immediately that he had Parkinson's. The rest is history - I made myself very obvious, very forward and very available! Fell madly in love with him and convinced him to 'do the same' and am having the happiest period in my entire life! He's a keeper! We are doing a pretty good job of 'taking care' of each other, forcing the other to do what should be done, laughing at each other's clumsiness, and we are both learning a lot about each other's diseases. And that is my reason for subscribing. I am getting the digest to make it easier to keep the GBS and Parkinsn posts separate. I do not suffer the (undeserved, but apparently unavoidable) lowered self esteem with him around, and he expresses the same feelings. My children 'up north' and even many of my friends thought I would rather have a strong person to 'take care of me'. Isn't that a sick attitude on their parts?! Here we are - a 60 year old GBSer with a 61 year old Parkie behaving like lovesick 16 year olds to the distress of their families and AA friends. I am really looking forward to learning more about you and hearing your treatment successes and failures, and what I should keep an eye out for. I have already figured out that he has not been taking very good care of himself, or even bothering to learn much about his own disease. I hope you had a great holiday. Jo Ann [log in to unmask] <Jo Ann Moos>